Photo Journal of Fall Farm Goings-On

It's been a long, busy summer here. Here are some of the things that are going on around the farm this fall:

1. We've had an awesome tomato season, harvesting about 20 different varieties, mostly heirlooms. Earlier this month, we had our annual tomato tasting potluck party. As usual, we chose the hottest day of the month (not on purpose) for this event, but about 25 brave souls came out anyway to taste our best tomatoes.

2. We are also having a great year for winter squashes, and we're getting ready to harvest most of them this week. The butternuts look particularly promising.

3. Our fall crops are just about all planted now, and the weeds are going nuts, as usual, but so far I've been able to keep the veggies taller than most of the weeds.

4. I'm preserving food for the harsh California winter. Just kidding. Despite our year-round growing season, it'll be nice to have these ginger plums, plus tomato sauce, blackberry jam, etc. in the cold months.

5. Hubby is bravely clearing blackberry brambles out of the creek bed. The creek is dry right now, but once it starts raining it fills up quickly. Last year it came within inches of overflowing the banks. We're trying to give the water a little deeper channel to flow on out of here this winter.